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Unlike M2’s heavy school bag, when I was in high school, I remember I would try to avoid bringing any text books to school. I simply didn’t want a heavy backpack to deal with and even conspired with my friend who sat next to me to share the textbook, blatantly defying the teacher who specifically said no sharing. We basically took turns to bring the Math textbook to school.

Sometimes we will leave our subject text books in school or even hide them in the class cupboard! Ahhh… those were the days.

When it came to college, thank goodness for me being an art student for I did not have much text books to lug around. But I had art materials though and I did have a locker at the Art Department to keep my supplies. And this helped especially during winters when I had to trudge through the snow.

I don’t recall English classes during the dinosaur years in high school was fun although I remember the teacher back then was nice and I liked her. Homework assignments were dull and boring. Ho hum.

English classes during college was certainly more fun and entertaining. But as far as I can remember, it was all about writing, creative writing and more writing.

Unlike M2’s recent English class assignment. It certainly was very different and a lot more fun because the class had to cook. English class, cooking? Go figure!

The teacher grouped the students and each group had to choose a country to research on culture, economy and food. How this related to the language was probably the written and oral, and definitely perked up the class to stay interested.

The students then had weekly show and tell sessions and the ultimate presentation was the food; each group had to cook something during class at the Home Science workshop to showcase the country’s food.

M2’s group chose Thailand. It was all very interesting (they made Pad Thai, Banana pancake and Thai Iced Tea) but what impressed me more was the cooking menu that M2 drew.

Such meticulous details and skill! Even I can’t draw like that I must admit. I think the girl has potential to pursue art, specifically illustration.

Sandra Boynton is my all time favorite illustrator and author for children’s book. I discovered her books while working in New York City back in the early 90s, after graduating from college. I am proud to say I have quite a sizeable collection of her titles.

My collection were read by M1 and M2 in their early years, and even me occasionally these days when the mood hits.

When M1 was a toddler, I taught her to read ‘But Not the Hippopotamus’. The child was amazing. She could recite the whole book with full of zest and expression without a glance at the pages. The only thing she struggled with was the long word ‘hippopotamus’ which came out as ‘neh-neh-neh-tamus’.

When M2 was 19 months’ old, she had her exposure to Sandra Boynton too. Multi-tasking at such an early age, she’s engrossed with ‘Barney’ on the TV while attempting to read ‘Doggies’ at the same time. You have to turn up the volume, ignore Barney and listen to her carefully.

I have been sharing my painting efforts on Facebook and some of my friends on that platform have been following the progress. Out of the blue, my American housemate from my college days mentioned that she still has a piece of my work hanging on her wall!

Initially she shared the picture on my wall and I complimented her that the picture was pretty and asked was it her effort? To my surprise, she wrote that I painted it for her in college. Oh my goodness.

Memory fail here because I don’t recall. This must be the pre-Monet days where I still used the brush because the strokes on the painting didn’t look like a palette knife effort.

And what’s even more amazing was that apparently I did another piece of a cabin subject and sold it to the owner of the cabin! Super memory fail here again.

The lady motorbike rider I wrote about recently reminded me of my encounter with this mode of transportation dinosaur years ago. It was during an interim period and I was working while waiting to go off to college. I was an artist for a publishing house that produced educational books for children.

In the mornings, Dad would send me to work as my office was close by his office. Days when I finished early I would go home with Dad. But there were nights that I had to work late and I didn’t want Dad to wait nor did I want to take the bus home. Luckily, I had a co-worker who lived in the same town and I would go home with him. On his motorbike.

So there I was on a couple of occasions, sitting at the back of his motorbike, clinging on to my dear life as he hurtled along the highway in the night to send me home.

It was downright scary whether it was the first time or second time because being hit by the wind on the face constantly was foreign and rather terrifying. Then there was that firm death grip on the bar behind my seat throughout the ride to ensure I remain on the bike. And the awkwardness to stay balanced, tilting along and not against when he tilted the bike to turn…

Quite an experience. After those couple of rides, never again I rode on a motorbike.

I love this painting that I did many years ago. Sometimes I see clouds above the mountains, other times it’s the ocean and the horizon. It gives a sense of calmness regardless of what I make it out to be whenever I look at it.

I took a painting class in summer during college and it was rather enjoyable. Like every other student, I started off using sable brushes but somehow I never did master this tool. Instead I prefer the palette knife.

Naturally, this two feet by four feet oil piece was completed using just the palette knife and no brushes at all. And it used to hang behind my sitting space at the old office. I hope to have it up at the new office in my room soon, one of the few places that can have big paintings up.

Looking at M2 eating Honey Bunches of Oats made me want to eat cereal too, so I bought a box that comes with almonds. This is where our tastebuds differ slightly. She prefers with strawberries while I am into nuts.

It made me also recall my college days and cereal eating habits, which is highly not recommended. I think I would balk if my girls ever did what I did.

I think it was my Junior year and whenever I had 8.00am classes, I was never on time waking up, thus leaving very little time to get ready. Everything had to be super quick and breakfast was always stuffing my face silly with cereal then washing it all down with one or two gulps of milk.

With five minutes to spare, I would be scrambling out of the apartment, zipping across the main road on my Giant mountain bike to get to campus and still be on time for class. Amazing.

What’s even more amazing was that this routine was repeated just about for every 8.00am class during that one semester.

I like carrots, not for its vegetable goodness but what it’s suppose to represent: rewards, as in the saying, dangle the carrots in front to get the results you want, you know.

M1 and M2 are both very carrot-, I mean, rewards-oriented. I think this is very good to spur them to dream big, study hard and do well in school. Little exams with good results will yield little rewards and big (main) exams yield a bigger windfall, it’s very clear cut.

Last year was a critical year for M1 to sit for her mid-high school exam, while M2 was to meet the target of staying in her current class. The big fat carrot: a trip to USA to visit the many places that they have only seen in magazines and travel documentaries: Disneyland, Universal Studios, Sedona, Sunset Crater, the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Hoover Dam, LA and San Francisco, just to name a few.

It was very inspiring to me to see them so motivated in their efforts to achieve what has been set out for them. There was icing on the cake as well! They get to buy whatever they fancy with their pocket money earned. Indeed a good deal for them, that is.

The big plan was set in motion early last year and the trip dubbed, “The Great Adventure Road Trip to USA”. However, in June, there were hiccups, dissatisfaction, anger, threats and tears as setbacks were encountered; targets were way off! Plans had to be restrategized to recuperate from the shock and disappointment. But the two young adventurers persevered again with their efforts and finally, determination and hard work paid off!

M1 did very well and M2 met her targets, in short. And so, in November last year, our big fat carrot was savored and brought many happy moments and memories for all. Looking back at those priceless moments, I would do it again without hesitation, that is, to plan another carrot-incentive trip to spur the girls on.

I’ve always loved telling my kids that prior to attending college, their grandma (my mother) had advised me to study English to become an English teacher (don’t laugh!), this being a noble profession. But I would scoff at that idea and gently break my mother’s heart and convinced her that I would fare better as a graphic designer instead.

While in college, I did enjoy my English classes, having signed up for both English101 & English102 AND scoring ‘A’s in both courses. I am most proud of the ‘A’ in English102 because firstly, it is not a typical class taken by Asian students and secondly, the lecturer was a mean looking, typical American lady and I was the only Asian student daring enough to be in her class full of American students. Until today, I still remember her name, Carol Ewing (and thoughts of Dallas and its theme song would break out in my mind!) Thankfully, the class was more of creative writing and I guess I stood above the rest.

Despite this, I feel my knowledge of the language is inadequate as I still cannot tell the difference between a verb, a noun and a pronoun, you know, all those linguistic jargon which are very important, along with correct punctuations and pronunciations. But having said that, it irks me to no end to see spelling mistakes and grammar error.

Last night M1 was sharing stories about her teacher and the way she pronounces her signature phrase: “Thats mean…” instead of “That means…” It has becoming so glaringly wrong and disturbing that her friends decided to pick on it. They purposely created a scenario to question the teacher to prompt her reply. And the whole time using the erred sentence repeatedly to the teacher, unaware of the situation! Naughty kids!

I think “That’s mean!” in this proper context of use.

And not to be outdone, M2 also shared about her teacher, who made a comment “I knows” in class. Immediately, her good friend made eye contact with her and pointed to her eyes and nose! These 12 year olds are so cheeky but then again, are they at fault?